Price Drops After Final Payment?

[nycruise]

Does Carnival has a firm policy on Price Drops after final payment if you haven't booked an ES rate??:confused:

 

Do they ever issue OBC'S or are you just plain out of luck?

[Litewait]

Starting Dec. 1, 2008 they did away with OBC after final payment.(I believe that was the date) When they introduced the Early Saver program, they gave those booked under that the chance of OBC and upgrades after final payment and until 2 days prior to sail date. They are very strict. I Haven't heard of anyone getting around it. An incentive to book ES.

 

My final payment date is 10/15 will see if I see any drops:D I booked ES< heres hoping!

[TakeMeAway1001]

We just had a significant drop but like you I didn't do the ES, however they allowed me to upgrade which was nice :) Good luck~

[jsglow]

Short answer. No exceptions. You can always upgrade at the prevailing price. That's the whole purpose behind the introduction of ES as it was "the perk" one got for an early non-refundable commitment.

[Deckhawk]

I agree with all of the other posters. You won't get money back, but you might get an upgrade or an OBC. Sometimes it is better to stay in the cabin you booked - esp if you booked far in advance. If you booked a guarantee, you end up moving from the highest class of balcony to the lowest class balcony for a $10pp OBC...sometimes not worth it.

[nycruise]

Thanks. I thought that was the policy.:(

 

Not interested in an "upgrade", happy with our 3 cabin selections.:D

[gargoyle999]

I agree with all of the other posters. You won't get money back, but you might get an upgrade or an OBC. .

 

You don't get OBC either after final payment when the booking is not ES.

[sgirlsmom]

We've also had a few large price drops (booked too late to get ES), and both times I've called we've been offered an upgrade to the highest category that stays under the amount we paid originally, if that makes sense. We haven't chosen to take the upgrades, as we have two 9A's and an inside across the hall and obviously don't want to split up our family.

 

On all of our previous cruises, I've always enjoyed the "treasure hunt" of checking prices after booking to get those OBC's...so much so that I'm finding it hard to not keep checking prices now knowing that I can't get the OBC! We generally book within a few months of cruising due to DH's work schedule, so probably won't get to take advantage of the ES in the future. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted! Now if I can just break my price checking addiction :-).

[firefly333]

We booked way before ES and the price went up and didnt drop back below what we paid until after final payment. Like you wasnt interested in upgrading, wanted the cabin we had... out of luck. I have another one the TA doesnt do refunds for price drops, so wouldnt matter, but again booked before ES came into existence, so wasnt a option.

 

Sometimes you have to tell yourself you did the best you could. Booking early ES isnt always the best choice either, we have small B2B in Dec and the date after is really really cheap and its driving me crazy to know I could have booked 7 days for $50 more than I paid for my 4 day .... no perfect answers here. Try not to beat yourself up.

[cruisinmeme]

Does Carnival has a firm policy on Price Drops after final payment if you haven't booked an ES rate??:confused:

 

Do they ever issue OBC'S or are you just plain out of luck?

 

no obc, only an offer of upgrade. some cat. do not even qualify for upgrade. ALSO.... if you are in penalty phase, price drops mean nothing to you. we entered penalty phase and pay off was not due for another 2 weeks.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

no obc, only an offer of upgrade. some cat. do not even qualify for upgrade. ALSO.... if you are in penalty phase, price drops mean nothing to you. we entered penalty phase and pay off was not due for another 2 weeks.

 

I know I just got up and my pea brain hasn't kicked in yet but how is it possible you are in the penalty phase if you didn't have to pay in full yet?

 

Bill

[firefly333]

I know I just got up and my pea brain hasn't kicked in yet but how is it possible you are in the penalty phase if you didn't have to pay in full yet?

 

Bill

 

My TA I was using has a final payment date 2 weeks before Carnival's, and I had paid it off early. I was before Carnival's final payment and they refused to give me a small price drop, saying they had already been paid their commission by Carnival, so it was not worth it to them. They did upgrade me. ...you can be past your TAs final payment date, but before Carnival's final payment date. .. might be the case here.

[LorrieB]

I agree with all of the other posters. You won't get money back, but you might get an upgrade or an OBC. Sometimes it is better to stay in the cabin you booked - esp if you booked far in advance. If you booked a guarantee, you end up moving from the highest class of balcony to the lowest class balcony for a $10pp OBC...sometimes not worth it.

NO OBC after final payment if you did not book ES. Sorry!!!!

[UpstateCruizer]

Does Carnival has a firm policy on Price Drops after final payment if you haven't booked an ES rate??:confused:

 

Do they ever issue OBC'S or are you just plain out of luck?

 

Absolutely just plain out of luck. Recent scenerio to show you this. My dh and I are booked early saver on the October 19th Miracle cruise. We decided after Early Saver was no longer an option to book another cabin for my son. That cabin cost more than we paid for ours and he's paying double the rate even though it's just him in there. Earlier this week I noticed the rate for our cabin dropped a total of $270. We got the difference applied as OBC but he was out of luck.

[S.S.Oceanlover]

My TA I was using has a final payment date 2 weeks before Carnival's, and I had paid it off early. I was before Carnival's final payment and they refused to give me a small price drop, saying they had already been paid their commission by Carnival, so it was not worth it to them. They did upgrade me. ...you can be past your TAs final payment date, but before Carnival's final payment date. .. might be the case here.

 

I totally understand that as most bookings I did with a TA were that way,allowing for procrastinators to get their payments in on time , but isn't the CCL final payment date the OFFICIAL date when you can'r get the reductions anymore?

 

And Fire if I could be so blunt, that TA you used sucks. What kind of BS is that? We got paid by CCL already so screw you and your reduction.:rolleyes:

 

Bill

[bumbles]

This is the policy cited from the website Carnival uses for travel agent information:

 

Price Protection Policy

 

Effective 12/01/08, we changed our current business practices surrounding price drops inside of penalty. There will be no external communication on this. Please do not forward this to any external sources.

Going forward, we will not issue any dollar refunds or on board credits if a consumer's price for which he/she qualifies, drops inside of penalty. Instead, we will do our best to re-accommodate a guest into a cabin that has the same value as what they originally paid.

Example: If a guest purchases an oceanview category 6A cabin for $699 and subsequently they find that same rate for which they qualify in a balcony category 8A, we will upgrade them to the 8A.

We may not be able to match the full value dollar for dollar in all cases but will offer the best we can based on inventory available at that time.

 

The following categories are excluded from this practice: 9A/11/12/SS, and Spa Staterooms: 4S/6E/8P/8S/SS. All upgrades will be subject to availability at that time. If there is no potential for an upgrade, the guest will be advised accordingly and no other compensation will be given. No exceptions will be made.

There are several steps that must be completed by reservations to determine if we are able to offer an upgrade of any kind.

 

The sailing is outside of our standard cancellation policy

Is the caller requesting a change in promotion code to a lower rate (ex. CPNS to CPSE), you can proceed with this change as normal. If it is just for a re-pricing of the booking, contact Guest Solutions Support.

 

The sailing is within our standard cancellation policy

Check the sailing first to ensure that there are still available cabins. If guest solutions are able to upgrade the booking, return to the caller and give the following advisory:

 

“Our policy does not allow for rate reductions for reservations within the cancellation penalty period. Generally, this type of transaction is considered a cancellation and a rebook subject to applicable cancellation penalties. While you may have benefited in the past from rate adjustments within penalty, these were generally exceptions to the rule. However, in consideration for the current rate differential, I am happy to offer you an upgrade to category __. This is the best solution at this time given the available inventory.”

[nycruise]

Bubbles:

 

Thanks, that pretty much spells it out!